Smuggling News

Rome -
An Italian naval vessel was used to smuggle crates of cigarettes while returning from a mission to stop migrants from travelling from Libya to Europe, the navy confirmed on Wednesday after revelations in the press.

Toronto -
It appears that some Blackberry devices were modified to 'help drug cartels', according to U.S. authorities. The allegation is that Canadian company Phantom Secure sold modified Blackberry devices for illicit reasons.

New Delhi -
Gold smugglers are resorting to increasingly desperate measures to get the metal past customs, Indian officials say, after nearly a dozen people were caught with bullion stashed in their rectums.

Ahmedabad -
India's coast guard announced Sunday it had seized 1.5 tonnes of heroin worth almost $550 million from a merchant ship in what maritime authorities are calling their largest-ever drug bust.

Rennes -
French prosecutors on Wednesday requested prison terms of up to eight years for a group of sailors and suspected people smugglers accused of ferrying scores of illegal migrants across the sea to Britain.

Oklahoma City -
An investigation is being conducted into whether the owners of Hobby Lobby smuggled stolen artifacts for their planned Museum of the Bible.
As many as 300 small clay tablets were headed to Hobby Lobby headquarters in Oklahoma city from Israel in 2011.

For hours a group of Iraqis has been debating the next step as they stand on an abandoned train track that runs from northern Serbia near Kanjiza into southern Hungary, where police wait to take new arrivals to camps for registration.

Marseille -
Some 150 endangered baby tortoises will return to Madagascar eight months after they were found wrapped in sticky tape and hidden in a crate at a Paris airport, the centre that cared for them said Tuesday.

Singapore -
Singapore authorities seized the biggest illegal shipment of ivory and other exotic animal parts in more than a decade Tuesday, with the haul from Kenya worth an estimated Sg$8 million ($6 million).

Hyderabad -
At least 20 people were killed when police opened fire Tuesday on loggers who attacked them with axes and stones in an area of southern India known for sandalwood smuggling.Deputy Inspector General M.

Police officers in Jämtland, in northern Sweden, spent the night counting disposable diapers, more than 25,000 of them, after stopping two men in a van they believe were trying to smuggle them to eastern Europe.

Geneva -
Entire elephant populations are dying out in many African countries due to poaching on a massive scale, wildlife regulator CITES warned Friday, while also hailing the continent for clamping down on ivory smuggling.

Geneva -
Entire elephant populations are dying out in many African countries due to poaching on a massive scale, wildlife regulator CITES warned Friday, while also hailing the continent for clamping down on ivory smuggling.